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Illegal Logging has a devastating impact on some of the world’s most valuable forests. It can have not only serious environmental, but also economic and social consequences. Europe’s response to the problem is reflected in the
FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) Action Plan of the European Union. The EU FLEGT Action Plan provides a number of measures to exclude illegal timber from markets, to improve the supply of legal timber and to increase the demand for responsible wood products.
A central element of the EU’s strategy to combat illegal logging are trade accords with timber exporting countries, known as
Voluntary Partnership Agreements, to ensure legal timber trade and support good forest governance in the partner countries. As a second element, the EU created legislation to ban illegally-produced wood products from the EU market, known as the
EU Timber Regulation. This website provides information on the various FLEGT policy areas and activities of the European Union and its partner countries to tackle illegal logging.
Latest news
Côte d’Ivoire and the European Union launch VPA negotiations in Abidjan
Working together to strengthen legally verified timber exports from Côte d’Ivoire to the European Union, negotiations for a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) between the two parties began Monday 17 June in Abidjan. Seventeen members of Côte d’Ivoire’s newly formed National Technical Committee are participating. They come from government, civil society and the private sector.
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Indonesia booked a 114 percent increase in sales of timber product exports to the European Union during the first quarter of the year, following the introduction of a self-made certification system to help the country comply with international regulations.
The April and May 2013 issue of the EU FLEGT Facility newsletter has been released in English and French and Spanish. Click here to subscribe to our bimonthly newsletter.
VPA negotiations between Guyana and the European Commission are moving
ahead, with two formal videoconferences having taken place since
negotiations began.
VPA negotiations between Honduras and the European Commission have started with a formal videoconference.